For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries rather than to just visit as a tourist. It has become an important part of my personality as I grew older and shaped the way I saw the world and myself.
My little taste of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was selected among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world through social media like Facebook and Twitter. In order to see a place, you had to go there and experienced it.
I was raised in a middle-class family and couldn’t afford to travel around the world the way I wished I could. The only way I knew about the world outside was through letters I wrote to pen pals from over a dozen countries as a kid, and from television. Growing up, I always loved the very funny British comedies that were shown on local public television every Saturday night. So when I got the chance to apply for a study abroad program, I chose London.
Living abroad can be exciting, scary and challenging. I thought it would be easier because I spoke the same language as the local people did. But I also like to relish (享受) the little differences between the British and American culture and language. I also learned that in England, they spell words differently than in the U. S. In British spelling, they put a “u” in words like favor to make it “favour” and an “s” in words like analyze to make it “analyse”. I was able to adapt quickly to this new way of writing since I was submitting papers all the time for my classes.
Academically, I got to take classes that weren’t offered at my college back home. For example, I had a course in sociology and learned about the native people of Papua New Guinea.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: But there were also challenges that year too.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Sometimes the difficult times made me sad and homesick.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As I unzipped my lunchbox, the whole place was turned into a spicy curry (咖喱) dream. I immediately hid it under my seat, hoping no one would take notice.
Mom had really outdone herself with masala — our family’s all-time favorite dish back in India. But today, it wasn’t just about me and my lunch. A warm smile on his face, Ricky invited me, a new transfer student from India to New York city, for lunch.
“Ava, come sit here!” Ricky called out, gesturing towards a vacant seat.
As I made my way over, memories of those awkward lunchtimes when I studied in Kansas, one of the most conservative states, flooded back. I could still recall how everyone would wrinkle their noses and stare curiously when I unpacked my Indian food. It always made me feel like an outsider, like I didn’t belong.
Therefore, before my first day in this school, I had demanded my mom pack “normal” western-style food for me. I still remembered the look on her face upon hearing it, as she signed in disappointment and confusion, “Isn’t there a moment when you feel proud of your origin?” That was hurting, but not more hurting than others’ giggles and whispers. Honestly, long queues were common in Indian restaurants in New York city, a cultural melting pot, but I wouldn’t take that risk.
Unfortunately, this morning, Mom had forgotten to make sandwich or any “normal” food, so I had to bring leftovers from our dinner. At the thought of the possible oh-no-second (社死), I felt like being thrown into darkness.
However, before I came back to reality, Ricky noticed my sneaking (躲躲藏藏). “What do you have for lunch?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with interest. I tried to brush it off (搪塞), claiming I wasn’t hungry. But Ricky wouldn’t let it go, and before I could protest, he had the lid of my lunchbox open and I prepared myself for such familiar responses as “Ew” or “What is that?”
注意： 1.续写词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
However, I did not get what I was expecting.
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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Sharing New Year with Strangers
I come from a large multicultural family, spread out across the globe. Despite being found in distant corners of the world, we’re a tight-knit family that makes an effort to stay close and keep in touch. New Year has always been a special time for us and a chance for us all to come together, no matter where in the world we might be.
My aunt Samantha, known affectionately by everyone in the family as Mantha, loved New Year and always went out of her way to make it cosy and magical for everyone around her. Mantha was kind, fun and full of energy so it wasn’t hard to get into the New Year spirit when she was around.
This year was no exception. Mantha drove three hours from her house in Bournemouth to visit everyone two weeks before New Year and to drop off presents to her friends still in the area. We chatted merrily about our plans, laughed at how organized Mantha was — presents already bought and wrapped and the freezer full ahead of the big day — and kissed goodbye when it was time to leave. So just several days before New Year, when Mantha’s son called us saying Samantha had passed away suddenly at home, none of us could quite believe it. I’d only been messaging her the day before, sharing voice notes like we always liked to do.
Mantha had had a blood clot (血块) that had unfortunately travelled to her lung and despite the paramedic’s best efforts, they were unable to save my beloved, fun, wonderful aunt.
So close to New Year, none of us felt like celebrating and we decided we’d have a quiet day at home, surrounded by family. The silence lasted until my sister-in-law, Vera, told us about some colleagues of hers who’d just arrived in the UK far away from friends and family. And they were eager to experience a proper English New Year.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 开头已给出。
Paragraph 1:
Hearing this, we were in a dilemma.
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When the day finally came, we welcomed them into our house.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________December strode (阔步走) into the mountains of Colorado, shooting snowflakes and blowing them into a thick blanket of white. As Christmas approached, the farmers there closed down most wooden houses for a holiday cheer. Not all were closed, however. There was still work to be done, and someone had to stay. That someone was Slim Carter.
Old Jake, another farmer there, had offered to keep him company, but Slim shook his head. “After all, a young man like me has got plenty of Christmases ahead,” Slim joked. Before Jake offered to stay again, Slim hurried on. “I’ll just have a private Christmas this year, and that’s the way I want it.” So he was left alone at the house. Alone, with his horse in the farm and the wolves roaring in the forest nearby.
Truth was, Slim had decided not to celebrate Christmas at all. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Christmas. In fact, his Christmas memories were good ones. His mother would fill their house with the light of candles and the smell of candy. His father would make their Christmas tree hunt an all-day, men-only affair. Slim smiled as he remembered sitting on the broad back of their horse with the freshly cut tree along behind. Back home, they would cover the tree with paper snowflakes and homemade decorations and sing all the Christmas songs they knew. And that’s the way he liked it. Those were the memories he pulled out on nights when he was working alone. Such memories warmed him inside, even if his outsides were aching with cold.
This was Slim’s first year away from home. “Christmas is nothing if not spent with family,” Slim declared to the empty house. That was the real reason he’d sent Jake away. He figured he would handle Christmas better if he just pretended it was an ordinary winter workday.
But on Christmas Eve, as Slim headed back with snow beneath his feet and stars overhead, his head hung low. It was Christmas, even without the tree and the gifts. Christmas, and he was all alone.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Then he remembered decorating the tree with his family again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________While singing to his decorated Christmas tree, Slim heard a knock on the door.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My brother Joe and I no longer live in the same state, but I make sure to give Joe a call every Christmas. In fact, I will never forget a Christmas when I was seven and Joe was five. I’ve kept a secret about that Christmas for 20 years. Now hearing Joe’s voice makes me feel guilty (内疚的) about it all over again. I think he probably doesn’t even remember it.
When we were kids, Joe almost drove me “crazy”! If Mom brought home my favorite yogurt, Joe would make sure to eat it before I got a chance. When our parents gave us each our own basketball, Joe insisted on playing with mine instead of his own.
That Christmas when I was seven, I was determined to teach him a lesson. At that time I was old enough that I no longer believed in Santa, but I knew Joe did. I couldn’t stand him thinking Santa had put him on the “nice” list when I knew he’d been naughty (淘气的) all year.
One day before Christmas, I put on my winter jacket and headed over to our neighbor’s backyard. It was filled with rocks. To me they really looked like coal (煤炭). I was sure that they’d look like coal to Joe too. I filled a lot of the rocks into the pockets of my winter jacket, brought them up to my room and hid them under my bed. Then I waited.
That morning, I got up early, went downstairs secretly and put the rocks into the red stocking with Joe’s name on it. I watched Joe take down his heavy stocking, lay it on the living room floor.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右。
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Looking at the gift inside, Joe’s smile disappeared suddenly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I said on the phone, “Hey, Joe, do you remember that Christmas morning when you were five …your stocking…”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My grandmother died when my mother, Laura, was only five years old. The year was 1945 and life was extremely hard. As the youngest child, Laura was surrounded by the love of her father, brothers and sisters. However, it could never take the place of that of a mother’s. Worse still, as money was tight at that time, her family could not even afford her a doll for Christmas.
Later, Laura got married and set up her own family. In my mother’s life, her father, her husband and then her three children and then her grandchildren were the main focus of her life. She felt that she could make up for her sad childhood through her devotion to her family, but deep in her mind there was a dream waiting to be realized.
One afternoon in December, I was working in the bank as usual when I caught sight of the beautiful handmade dolls in one of my customers’ hand. She was taking orders for the coming Christmas. The dolls looked cute and adorable （可爱的）. Without hesitation, I decided to get one for my five-year-old daughter, Kelly. Suddenly, an idea occurred to me. I asked my customer if she could make a special doll for my mother-one with grey hair and glasses: a grandmother doll. Having learned the past life experience of my mother, the doll maker accepted my request gladly, though it seemed to be a challenging job to her. So besides the Christmas tree, I also placed my order for two dolls: one blonde an one grey-haired.
Several days passed. I was expecting the arrival of the festival as well as the gifts when a friend visited and told me that his dad, who played Santa Claus, would make a visit to our town on Christmas morning. Knowing that my parents would also come to my house, I called his dad and asked him to deliver the gift to my mother. To my joy, his dad kindly agreed.
Everything was in place and I eagerly expected what was designed to be a most memorable moment in my mother’s life.
注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Christmas Day arrived and so did Santa Claus at the appointed time.
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Never will I forget my mother’s reaction when she got the present.
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7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
An Unforgettable Thanksgiving
We were living in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, our family of six had to experience a holiday without my wife, Esther, who was in Singapore. This meant that I was in charge of our four children. It was a struggle, putting in part-time at the union mission office, then coming home to manage the children.
Shortly after arriving in Indonesia, I made friends with some of the employees at the United States embassy, where a number of United States marines (海军陆战队) were stationed, and I had great conversations with them. I checked out films from the United States Information Service office on the embassy to show to our children and neighbors.
With Thanksgiving week upon us I thought what we would do to celebrate. Many thoughts ran through my mind. The film about the National Football League game of the week could be checked out for a few days.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving, the quiet of our house was disrupted by the sound of a jeep. We heard it drive up and stop in our driveway. Before we could determine who had come to visit us, a big muscular man was knocking at our door. It was Willie, one marine guard stationed at the United States Embassy. He held a big box in his arms, leaving me instructions: “Pastor Jones, let’s have a real nice Thanksgiving dinner together, OK?” Then out the door he went, “I’ll bring four other marine guards”. I immediately investigated the contents of the box: a frozen turkey and a half-gallon container of Magnolia ice cream — Singapore’s best brand.
The next day I walked from our union mission office to our home. I came across one of my newly-made friends, Tim. He was walking along, depressed and downhearted. I greeted him and asked, “What’s the matter, Tim?”
“Pastor Jones,” he said, “this is our first Thanksgiving away from home, and my wife and I are in the dumps. We went shopping for a turkey for Thanksgiving, and all we could find was a lot of skinny chickens. No turkeys anywhere. Thanksgiving will be no perfect despite my wife’s excellent cooking skills.”
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
No turkey? First Thanksgiving away from home? I made a deal with Tim on the spot.
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At the appointed time we heard the jeep from the embassy at the gate of our house.
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My parents and I were enjoying the first Easter (复活节) we had ever spent away from home. As an anxious little boy, I had asked my mom several times whether we could get the Easter egg.
On Easter morning, my parents and I discovered that the Easter Bunny had visited during the night and left eggs on the hotel’s lawn (草坪) for all the kids. As we walked towards the group of adults and kids waiting for the start of the searching game, I noticed that all of the kids were much bigger than me except for a little boy in a red T-shirt. It wasn’t looking good.
“I will get an egg, right?” I asked my mom. “Yes, of course.” she replied, with a confident smile. I nervously held on to the handle of my Easter basket and my heart began racing as a hotel staff member yelled. “We are starting in 3...2...1… Go!” Kids rushed across the lawn, running from tree to tree looking for the plastic Easter eggs filled with candies. I ran to the closest tree but did not find any eggs. Then I ran to a nearby sandpit (沙坑) hoping there would be an egg hidden there. But there wasn’t. I looked across the lawn and saw other kids successfully holding up their plastic eggs and knew my chance of finding even one egg was falling off. On the other side of the lawn stood the little boy in red who was also empty-handed. Just then my mom pointed out a big tree across the lawn. “Look! There’s one!”
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，可适当补充细节，使情节完整；
3.每段的开头语已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Paragraph 1:
I looked at my mom excitedly and rushed to the last egg.
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Paragraph 2:
Holding the egg in my hand, I walked towards the boy in red.
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A Christmas Worth Remembering
Hector kicked his boot in the snow, angry that he couldn’t change Mom’s mind. Why did they have to work at the homeless shelter over Christmas?
Christmas was for opening presents, eating delicious food, and playing games. He didn’t want to spend it handing out presents and food to other people. Mom called it community service, but he called it a bummer (令人不开心的事).
“What are you doing?” asked David as he entered Hector’s yard. David was his friend from next door. “Going to build a snow castle?”
“No,” Hector said. “I’m just trying to cool off.”
“Well, it’s definitely cold out here. What’s wrong?” David asked.
“My mom said that we’re going to the homeless shelter on Christmas Day,” Hector said. “We’re going to help provide them with a Christmas lunch and hand out presents to the kids.”
“What’s wrong with that?” David asked.
Hector stared at him, his mouth hanging open. “What’s wrong? We’re going there on Christmas Day, that’s what.”
“It might not be so bad. We did something like that with our local outreach ministry (外联部) on Thanksgiving.” David said. Hector hadn’t known that. Still, he didn’t think it would be much fun.
The next week passed quickly. Soon it was Christmas Day. It was time for Hector to go to the shelter with his parents. As they left, Hector sat in the back seat of the car with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
At the shelter, a man greeted them with a happy smile. “Thank you for coming to help today,” he said. “I hope you will enjoy your time here.” Hector seriously doubted it.
The man told Dad where he could serve food and he pointed Mom toward several large boxes that were filled with presents.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右; 2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Hector stood uneasily, not sure what to do.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Afer the meal, Hector helped Mom pass the presents out to the kids.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Science of Happiness
Kate is a bright young woman with an intense focus on academics and a long-term goal of becoming a neuroscientist (神经系统科学家). Her path is charted very carefully each day according to schedule. She meets after school with the Brain Club, a group she started that discusses neuroscience and trades academic papers like baseball cards. It’s the kind of group you would never imagine in high school, which is mature beyond their years and led by their own initiative.
It would seem there was no room in Kate’s schedule for fun, let alone helping others. But then she found out about an elementary school hit hard by the pandemic, then inflation, and now a recession (衰退). It sits in the middle of a working-class neighborhood and most of parents were tired out by working physically demanding jobs from dawn to dark. Most families were doing the best but they could just put a few groceries on the table.
Halloween was approaching, and many of the families didn’t participate because they lacked costumes and couldn’t afford to give out candy themselves. So Kate called the headmaster of the elementary school. She was told the families wanted their kids to have fun on Halloween, but they also needed more books in the home.
So Kate went to work. She began with the Brain Club and then branched out to other clubs. They would sponsor a trick-or-treat event featuring games, candy and book giveaways. It was a huge organizational challenge—one that only a very organized person could handle.So Kate put her smarts to use. She arranged for groups of her fellows to decorate their cars and create games. She found a DJ and rounded up boxes of costumes for the kids. She even got the local police to decorate their cruiser (巡逻车). And she went to work getting kids books donated.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At dusk on Halloween,the cars arrived in the parking lot.
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The headmaster said this was the happiest time for the kids.
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